from Sepia@mander.xyz to world@lemmy.world on 26 Feb 12:36
https://mander.xyz/post/48055257
Russia’s only domestic producer of optical fiber has been offline since May 2025 following Ukrainian attacks, industry officials told the Vedomosti business daily on Thursday.
The halted operations have left Russia fully dependent on Chinese supplies for a key component for telecommunications networks and military drone systems.
The plant, operated by Optic Fiber Systems in the city of Saransk, was damaged in a series of Ukrainian strikes in April-May 2025 and has yet to resume operations, Leonid Konik, CEO of telecoms consultancy ComNews Group, told Vedomosti.
Before the shutdown, the facility produced about 4 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) of optical fiber annually, supplying roughly 20 Russian cable manufacturers that used the material to produce fiber-optic cables.
Those companies now rely entirely on imports from China.
Chinese suppliers have meanwhile hiked prices for Russian buyers since the start of 2026, representatives of cable makers Evrokabel-1 and Incab, as well as major backbone operator TransTelecom, told Vedomosti.
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